Our Disney Traditions

It’s been almost five years since our first trip to Walt Disney World.  8 trips later, we still love it and look forward to each returning trip.

Having visited so many times, we have a few traditions, no different than any other family who vacations at a similar spot each year.

Here are some of our Disney Vacation Traditions:

• We bring home, okay, I bring home the soaps and shampoos from our resort.  We use one bottle and bar while we are there, but each day I return to our room, I scoop up the newest delivery and stash it away so that housekeeping will be sure to replenish our supply the next day.  I use a gallon size plastic bag to bring it all home with me in our checked luggage.  Every time I use it, the smell takes me back to the most magical place on earth.

• We wear matching shirts.  Enough said, but if you want to read more—click here.
• We try at least one new restaurant or dining opportunity on each trip. 
• We add the Dining Plan to our tickets, which means our meals are already paid for.  I think this has to do with a traumatic experience when a friend and I traveled to Florida for Spring Break when we were in high school (she is going to read this and laugh out loud.  Do you hear her laughing?), we didn’t handle our funds the best and by the last day we had less than $2 between us.  It was enough for a muffin and glass of water at the airport—we shared them both!  We were hungry when we got off that airplane.  Anyway, having the dining plan means I don’t have to worry if there is enough money to cover the cost of food during our trip.  Gives me peace of mind.

• We use every form of Disney transportation—boats, busses, monorails, and trains when we are there.  I love letting Disney get me from place to place.
• We get to parks at rope drop—when the park opens.  We have the first 3-4 things mapped out and figure out the rest as we go, leaving plenty of room for magic!

• We never leave EPCOT without enjoying Spaceship Earth or visiting the train garden in the Germany Pavilion.

• We collect character autographs and photos.  Sometimes meeting the characters is like seeing an old friend.
• We use Fastpass to the best of our ability.

• We capture a fireworks photo on our Photopass account.
• We thoroughly enjoy riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Toy Story Mania, and Tomorrowland Transit Authority.
• We totally unplug from the outside world and immerse ourselves in Disney magic.  No computer, newspaper, or even TV news, unless it is the weather.  Our re-entry into the real world, which begins the moment we get to the airport, can be quite shocking, even painful!

• We play!
• We strike up conversations with other guests and Cast Members.
• We admire Disney pins, but for different reasons—the husband wants to trade, the boy tries to round out his Stitch pin collection, and I pick out a pin that will symbolize and be a memoir for our trip to add to my lanyard.
• We bring home a souvenir of something we could use every day to remind us of Disney magic. . . like an ice cream scoop.  We also bring home a piece of art and a Christmas tree ornament.
• We make room to add traditions, like the boy learning how to trade Vinylmation during our last trip—click here to read more.

I hope that if I were to make this same list 5 years from now, many of our traditions will have carried on.  The most important tradition is that we keep having marvelous adventures as a family.  It just so happens that we have those adventures at Walt Disney World.

What are your Disney traditions?

Author's Note:  While I was writing this post, the husband and the boy were away from home so I texted the husband to ask what he thought our Disney traditions were.  He added to my list and also had many of the same things I had already included.  Our Disney traditions are truly family traditions.